The Reaper Of The Commonwealth
by Y2000K
Summary: Lloyd Ashfelt had lived his life by the motto, 'Do whatever you want today, because tomorrow you might not be able to.' Which may seem like a ridiculously dangerous way to live, even more so in the wasteland, but it was thanks to this motto that he met Preston Garvey and his contingent of survivors. And it was that meeting that would change Boston, and the entire world, forever.
1. Chapter 1-The Birth Of The Reaper

Humanity used to simply be able to live, without a care in the world, with their plastic smiles and plastic foods but, now... Now a new chapter in humanity's history had opened and the key word was 'Survival'. It was the survival of the strongest, the most perceptive, the fittest, the most charismatic, the smartest, the most agile and the luckiest. If you didn't have any of these traits after the bombs dropped on October 23, 2077 then you were a walking corpse. The radioactive wasteland that the three greatest powers left in the wake of their conflict was almost completely inhospitable at first, only a handful of sparsely populated areas and heavily reinforced vaults managed to escape the wrath of the renowned ICBMs.

Many a tale could be told of the wasteland, but which is the one being told right now? The one of the Vault Dweller? No? Perhaps the one of the Chosen One or the Lone Wanderer? Neither? Maybe the Courier or the Sole Survivor? Still not?

No, for none of these tales are intertwined. Not with themselves and not with this one. Because this may be the United States and it may take place in Boston, but this is the tale of rebirth not destruction.

And it all started with a single person, but I need not describe him because that would just spoil the surprise wouldn't it?

* * *

**Chapter I- The Birth Of The Reaper**

* * *

The wind was howling like a thousand wolves and the rain was coming down like a hail of bullets. A large groupment of buildings stood in the middle of the green wasteland, overgrown by vegetation, with many having completely collapsed. This was Concord, home to the Museum of Freedom which had not only a crashed vertibird on the roof but something much bigger as well. The collapsed spire of the church next to it was resting precariously upon the metal flying machine, almost pushing it through the roof.

Despite the exterior of the buildings being covered in lichen and vines, some of the interiors were still mostly intact. It was inside one of these intact buildings, a bar, that sat a silhouette. The only sound was that of the rain, steadily hitting against the mossy roof and leaking through it onto the rubble covered floor, which was also beginning to concede defeat to the ever spreading vegetation.

The figure was sat on a steel bar stool, his long white lab coat hanging almost down to his feet. Said coat was almost unblemished save for damp patches on the man's shoulders where the rain had caught him out, peculiar as it was the owner's hair was almost whiter than his article of clothing.

If you were standing behind the man you could just about make out his semi-automatic assault rifle, equipped with a silencer, which was lying against the hardwood bar counter next to his dark leather backpack. The man's hand reached up in front of him, his hand brushing against a quarter empty whiskey bottle, then grabbing a cracked glass full of the bitter drink.

\- To good health and prosperity.

With that, the man emptied the full glass of whiskey onto the floor and then proceeded to toss the glass at a wall. He spun around on his seat, grabbing the bottle of alcohol and carefully putting it away in his backpack. He proceeded to sling the leather sack onto his back and grabbed the rifle, doing the same as with his bag, the leather strap of the weapon digging slightly into his shoulder. His bright red eyes carefully scanned the room from behind a pair of slick glasses, his legs already moving him towards the broken door of the bar. A break in the rainfall encouraged him to step out of the building. He pulled out a foldable piece of paper from his spotless black jeans and with a few hand movements the simple piece of paper had been unfolded into a large map of the surrounding area.

\- Mhh... The robotics disposal ground was interesting but pretty much everything was too heavy to carry or useless for now... I really need to set up a base camp in this 'commonwealth' if I'm going to keep scavenging here... Man the guy who drew this map had crappy handwriting... He said Covenant was the closest settlements that still had people around... I sup-

The man's monologue was cut off as the sound of something exploding resonated from not that far away. Looking at his map the white clad traveler guessed that it came from the Museum of Freedom, caution bred by a healthy distrust of most things led the man to approach the street, where he now heard gunshots coming from, with great care. As he crept towards his target he spotted a rickety ladder which led onto a tall roof, deciding it would be a good vantage point the curious man started climbing.

A scene which he was all too familiar with greeted his eyes, a handful of raiders were firing up at a balcony, their weak and imprecise makeshift weapons rebounding off of a metal table which was being used as cover by some poor sap. The explosion had probably been the raiders blowing the doors of the museum open with an improvised explosive devise. Meaning that the six raiders currently outside were not all there was.

\- Today seems like as good a day to die as any other.

And with that the stranger laid himself down upon the roof, his peculiar black assault rifle's barrel resting upon the concrete ridge of the roof. He breathed steadily and closed his left eye as he looked down the strange scope, its red chevron hovering steadily above several heads before settling for the one which was furthest back, the one which wouldn't be noticed if he suddenly went 'missing'.

Preston Garvey was not having a good day, heck he hadn't had a good month, first the gunners at Quincy, then Jamaica Plain, after that were the ghouls of Lexington and now a group of goddamn raiders who for some reason really didn't want to let them live. Despite the seemingly desperate situation he cranked his laser musket as he was used to doing and blindly fired back, not daring to peak his head up to aim, doing so would be suicide as the large amount of bullets being shot were constant and deadly. The last minute man couldn't help thinking how wasteful they were being, using their ammunition so liberally. Gradually however he noticed he could hear less and less noise, meaning less bullets were being fired. Preston peaked over his makeshift defense and saw a single raider looking to his right where another was clutching onto his neck.

\- WHAT THE F-

And with that the white haired man finished off the last of the six raiders, thanks to the constant shooting and his silencer they hadn't noticed he had been picking them off one by one until the very last second. Spotting the man they had been trying to kill look around in confusion, his savior stood up, rifle pointing to the sky and resting on his shoulder, his white coat flapping in the wind, a sudden crack of lightning in the cloudy sky only made the scene seem even more surreal. Preston was almost certain he was seeing some sort of apparition, perhaps the grim reaper himself, thought that idea was swiftly dismissed. A second blinding lightning strike and the man was gone, as if he had disappeared into thin air, but the minute man quickly caught sight of him again, running towards the museum of freedom from a little ways down the street.

\- There are more inside, make sure they haven't reached you yet!

Those were the only words the man spoke before raising his weapon and stepping into the building. The raiders were dotted around the area but they hadn't noticed him yet so he discreetly passed to the right where he spotted a doorway, they weren't shooting, instead one of the raiders was banging on a door, shouting loudly.

\- I'm coming' in there and I'm gonna skin every last one of you!

That wasn't going to happen on his watch. As the conspicuous white clad man entered the museum's display room he spotted a raider, only a room away of him. Careful not to knock over the many mannequins of colonial soldiers that were dotted around, he crept up behind the raider, ignoring the woman's incoherent mumblings in favor of placing a hand over her mouth and sliding a combat knife in-between her ribs, straight into her heart. Not even a stimpack was going to stop that internal bleeding.

The building was completely falling apart, the floor and the levels above had collapsed down, creating a pathway into the basement, noting the presence of a fusion generator locked up behind a password protected terminal for later the stranger snuck his way to the second level. The collapsed second story floor forced the man through another side passage, hearing the distinct voices of two men talking together the stranger raised his weapon, ready to fire at a moment's notice.

Both men were conversing but one was looking towards his position, meaning the white haired man had to focus on a way to get past the pair without alerting the others above. He waited a little bit, hiding behind a display case whilst pushing his body up against it so that the raider a few meters away from him wouldn't see his white coat. The silent assassin noticed an innocent looking piece of wood on the floor and decided it would serve as a useful distraction. He tossed the wood to the left and up in an arc so as to stay out of the men's field of vision, it then fell down and the animalistic men reacted almost instantly out of honed beast like instincts.

\- 'The fuck was that?

Before the other raider could answer his 'friend' both were lying on the cold floor with a bullet to the back of the head. Quiet as a mouse the invader continued his journey making it up some stairs, past a fridge and to a door. Just as he got to it however he heard someone talking.

\- Hey! Just me or is it too quiet out there?

\- Mhh? Now that you mention it... What happened to our boys?

And with that the white haired bringer of death kicked down the door, using the sounds of their voices as a way of locating them, he fired off two bullets quicker than you could blink. The result being the two men lying dead on the ground. The infiltrator turned to finish the last one that he had spotted from bellow but all the raider killer saw was his burlap hood wearing prey limping for his life, having jumped down two flights and likely broken his ankle.

\- Fuck this! I'm getting the boss!

Resting his weapon on his shoulder proudly, the stranger stepped over the corpses of the two men who had been closest to the door where he guessed that minute man was hiding.

Preston softly placed his ear against the door, he had wedged a chair against the handle but the raiders hadn't stopped banging on it... Until a few seconds ago when he head some peculiar sounds. Preston jumped back away from the door slightly, surprised at the rather polite knock that came from the other side. Cautiously opening the door, Preston gazed incredulously at the man in front of him. There the stranger stood in all his glory, two corpses lying behind him, a tiny splotch of blood on his white coat, likely not his own and a slight grin on his face.

-Well, 'you going to invite me in or are you going to let me catch a cold?

-W-what? I mean... Right... Come in...

As the Stranger stepped in Preston studied him carefully, purely out of habit. Apart from the peculiar looking rifle resting on his shoulder he was only armed with a combat knife which rested in it's sheath on the man's hip. He wore an unbuttoned white lab coat over the top of a black padded cotton long sleeved shirt, his legs were covered by what at first looked like simple black jeans but in reality they were also padded like the man's shirt. Almost everything about this stranger was mysterious. Preston had never seen half of this person's gear, including his peculiar black backpack, and nothing he had ever laid eyes on had been so clean.

-We don't have much time, one of the raiders got away and is probably going to bring backup.

The stranger's gaze scanned the room, not too surprised to see that it hadn't only been the minute man on his own. He spotted a man to his right, tapping away at a computer, an old woman sat on a sofa, another man sat on the floor next to a desk rocking back and forth with his head in hands and finally a woman pacing back and forth, angrily muttering to herself.

The white haired stranger turned towards the minute man and scanned him from head to toe, he was wearing an old fashioned colonial duster atop similarly old fashioned clothing, old even for pre-war stuff. He also wore a peculiar fedora that had one side pinned up on his head and carried a modified laser musket in his hands. A few bags hung from a leather belt tied above his waist probably containing ammo and other necessities. However the thing that caught the silent assassin's eye the most was the long scar that ran from the top of his left ear down to the left side of his chin.

\- So you're the only able-bodied fighter...

\- I suppose so... I'm Preston Garvey, commonwealth's minutemen, I'm glad you came along when you did...

\- Don't start thanking me yet, we're not done here...

\- R-right. Well we might be able to get the upper hand on the raiders... Sturges?

The man who so far had been frustratedly tapping away at an old terminal which had all kinds of different wires sticking out of it, turned towards the pair. He must have been Sturges.

\- Well mister silent badass, this may not be to your liking but there's a crashed vertibird up on the roof. Old school, pre-war. You must have seen it... Well looks like one of it's passengers left behind a seriously sweet goodie. We're talking a full suit of cherry, T-45 Power armor. Military issue.

\- An intact Pre-war power armor... Neat... So I'm guessing you want to power it up and steamroll those raiders right?

\- Well there's that and the minigun which is stuck on the vertibird which'll serve as a nice addition don't you think? However...

\- Go on.

\- Well, the suit needs to be reactivated, it's totally out of juice. Probably has been for a hundred years. Of course it can theoretically be powered back up again but we're a bit stuck.

\- You mean that juicy standardized fusion core locked up behind the security gate in the basement?

\- Yeah... Look, I fix stuff, I tinker but bypassing security ain't exactly my forte. I've been trying for the best part of twenty minutes and no dice.

\- Well, it's a good job you got me... Garvey, you're going to have to hold off the raiders outside until I can get the suit started up...

Preston should have simply said no and that they could just wait around until he got the suit started up, it was unlikely those raiders would get to them straight away... Right? But instead with the stranger's words his resolve hardened. His inner turmoil settled, his eyes went from the floor towards where the white haired man had been but he was already jogging away, weapon in hand. And so he shouted out with a slight smile.

\- By the way what's you're name? I'd like to know who's sending me to my death.

The silent assassin had just gone through the doorway to Preston's left when the other man's voice reached him so he stuck his head back out of the door frame.

\- Mhh? Oh right terribly sorry, I'm Lloyd Ashfelt, An absolute pleasure to meet you!


	2. Chapter 2-The Beast Below

Preston Garvey and the remnants of the Quincy massacre had been under siege by a group of ruthless raiders when a mysterious stranger named Lloyd Ashfelt suddenly appeared from no where and saved the group from their sordid fate. However one of the raiders managed to escape death's clutches and went for backup, luckily an old pre-war suit of T-45 power armor was on the roof waiting to be reactivated by the fusion core hidden within a nuclear fusion generator behind a security gate. With a mob of angry raiders approaching and the only one confident enough in their hacking skills being Lloyd, Preston agrees to gain him some time by holding them off for as long as he could.

* * *

**Chapter II- The Beast Below**

* * *

Preston had faced death many times in his tenure as minute man and even before that he had been exposed to the harshness of the wasteland... But today, there was something different as he walked towards his certain demise... This was the first time he wasn't scared, his mind was completely calm as he cranked his laser musket and slowly but confidently stepped towards the door to the balcony, the rotten wood creaking under his feet. He had always been scared when facing death, but he learnt to control and channel it. Because it wasn't just his life on the line if he ran away or messed up, that was something that became even more forged into his 'self' after Quincy.

But this time there was no fear... Why? Had he at last lost the plot? No, a small part of him knew why and it was that man, Lloyd Ashfelt, but what was it about him that inspired such fearlessness? Was it those bright, confident red eyes that weren't fitting on his pale face? No, again he knew what it was that allowed him to be so calm and confident, it was the man's words. He himself spoke as if the dozen or so raiders outside were already dead and buried, not to mention his all around attitude was nonchalant, bordering on careless. But this arrogance was not that, it was confidence founded justly on the awareness of his own skills.

And so when he kicked the door open that last time he had opened so cautiously he already had his finger on the trigger of the laser musket, something which came in handy when a raider spotted him from a rooftop to the left.

\- Hey Bos-!

Before the man could finish his sentence he received a face full of laser and crumpled to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

\- From what my boy said you're not the one who killed all the others are you?! So mister minute man, where the fuck is he?!

Preston looked down the street, passed the sandbags, collapsed buildings and cracked road. There they stood, a quick head count and fourteen men and women wearing a variety of different salvaged armor, with one man at the front. "These are different" was the first thing Preston thought. The other group had been a recon group from what the fedora wearing man could guess, because unlike the non-armored and pipe pistol wielding raiders from before these were armed with an army's worth of weaponry in comparison.

The man at the front had his face revealed, free of any kind of hood or mask, unlike the rest of his people. This man, likely the leader of the ragtag bunch of raiders, stood out like a sore thumb. He had a large Mohawk and wore black face paint over his eyes. What Preston noticed the most, however, was the laser rifle held in-between his bloodstained hands. The last minute man had only ever seen a handful of those before, one of which was damaged beyond repair and had been dismantled and its parts used by Sturges to improve Preston's laser musket.

Among the other weapons wielded by the raiders Preston spotted a Chinese officer's sword with a serrated blade, a modified R-91 assault rifle, an old fashioned 5.56 assault rifle, some double barreled and combat shotguns, a lever action rifle, a 44. Magnum revolver and two scoped hunting rifles. The rest mostly had shoddy looking pipe weapons, however one of them didn't have any guns and simply had fragmentation grenades strapped to his torso by the dozen.

\- Sorry, but he's a little busy... So you'll have to be satisfied with little old me for now!

And with that Preston fired off another shot with his musket, striking one of the raiders square in the chest, melting the rusted armor and making the woman scream as her armor fused with her skin. The wave of shock at this lone fool going against them was quickly replaced with pure rage as the group scattered and dove behind cover, not wanting to meet the same fate as their ally.

Preston only managed to fire off one last half charged shot which only wounded a raider's arm before he had to duck behind his cover as a hail of bullets came raining down upon him with the wicked fury of hell. His cover was holding for now but the higher caliber of the weapons used would eventually punch through the flimsy metal of the table.

Ignoring the bullets ripping through the only thing between him and a brutal death, Preston blind fired a fully charged musket shot, apparently hitting someone out of pure luck. Taking a deep breath and cranking his weapon he used a sudden reprieve in the gunfire to leap from his balcony, holding his breath he closed one eye and aimed down his scope, firing a loud laser shot off at the closest raider, nailing him in the head. Quickly bracing for impact, Preston rolled as he collided with the floor, dispersing his weight. Luckily all he felt from his fall was a slight pain in one of his legs, probably from a sharp stone that he had accidentally landed on. Not wanting to be turned into Swiss cheese the brave man leapt behind some sandbags which were just in front of him, almost loosing his fedora as he did so.

The machine of war started up again as bullets started slamming into the sandbags, however despite the deafening cacophony of gunfire everything slowed down in Preston's eyes and for a split second the only thing he heard was a clear and distinct metal clicking sound. A few seconds later he spotted a dark foreign object fly above his head, landing next to him with a metal clunk. Its bumpy surface and slightly faded yellow marking catching his eye. His brain span at a thousand miles per second as it tried to decode what those yellow markings were... And when it finally did register Preston's whole body was invaded by a creeping cold... The markings read "Frag".

\- Son of a-!

Lloyd was rushing up the steps that he had already climbed previously when he heard the sound of an explosion ring out from outside, his legs moving faster than before he crashed through the door to where the survivors were held up. The situation looked worse than when he had first arrived, Sturges was looking hopeless on his chair staring at the ceiling, the man who had been holding his head was now doing the same except in the fetal position on the ground while constantly repeating the word 'no', the old woman was looking slightly worried in her seat and... Before Lloyd could turn to the last person, said woman grabbed him by the collar of his lab coat.

\- This is your fault! Some stupid stranger comes along and now we're all dead! They got Preston and now we are just waiting here to be killed!

\- Marcy! The kid is the only reason we aren't already dead!

\- Shut it Mama Murphy! This is your fault too with your stupid-

\- I suggest you let me go this instant lady.

\- How dare y-

Marcy didn't finish her sentence when she looked back at the white haired man who stood a head above her. His eyes, a pool of blood with a single black speck in the middle. That bright red color invaded her mind like a flood and those tiny black pupils pierced her skin as if it were foil. Her hairs were stood on end as she unconsciously let the man go, a deep fear causing her mind to go completely blank. Lloyd's red eyes lingered on her a moment longer before moving towards a window. As soon as Lloyd had turned away the spell had been broken and Marcy could help but wonder "Who the hell is he?".

Fusion core in hand Lloyd leaned against the rickety window frame and spotted Preston, lying on the ground next to a doorway, a good distance away from a black crater in the road. The next thing his eyes caught sight of was the group of thirteen raiders, one seemingly injured, slowly moving towards the museum.

\- He isn't dead. However he will be if I don't get out there soon.

Lloyd looked back at the group and noted that one by one the occupants of the room settled back to how they had been when he had first arrived. Lloyd began to walk away from the window towards southward facing door in order to get out onto the roof and just as he did so a violent shout echoed from outside.

\- COME OUT HERE YOU FUCKER!

\- With pleasure...

Lloyd tossed his backpack, lab coat and rifle onto the sofa next to the old woman who currently seemed the most sane of the four people, which wasn't saying much in this situation and then made his way out onto the roof. He spotted the suit of power armor straight away, jogging up to it he slammed the fusion core into the suit, hearing the sound of static electricity and a mechanical whirring sound Lloyd quickly twisted the valve at the back of the suit. The suit opened up like a snake shedding its skin and the white haired man leapt into it.

The suit's interface slowly turned itself on after the software ran a self diagnoses, the micro chip in the helmet interacting wirelessly with the one in the suit. Slowly the machine came to life as Lloyd moved his arms, the wes-tek internalized servo system working overtime to force the rusted joints of the machine to move. Slowly Lloyd tighten his grip on the triggers on the inside of the suit, making the suit's fingers move.

The man inside the machine slowly commanded it to move, the unnatural feeling of having his limbs move with such a large delay destabilizing him slightly. Lloyd slowly began to walk rather uncomfortably, the frame of the suit clanking around and almost cracking the aged cement floor below him.

Lloyd walked over to the minigun, the vertibird shaking with the weight of the suit and the church tower pressing down on it. The mechanical hands latched themselves onto the large weapon, and with surprising ease the deadly shredding machine detached itself from its stand. The shaking of the vertibird got worse, however, encouraging Lloyd to grab an extra drum of ammo for the minigun which was on the crashed vehicle and leap off of it, the whole thing collapsing through the damaged cement roof as he did so.

\- What the hell was that?

\- Dunno, stay sharp.

Lloyd turned towards the edge of the roof in the direction of the enemies, his breath slowed down as he ran towards the edge, placing the extra drum of ammo onto his hip where it stuck due to a powerful inbuilt magnet. Lloyd had never seen a power armor suit before let alone used one and yet he had read a lot about them in magazines and books that he had scavenged. This was why he was desperately hoping that the shock absorbers were still in working order as he leapt off of the roof.

Preston's eyes slowly fluttered open as he heard the sound of something loud impacting with the floor, remembering what was in the middle of happening his eyes shot open, he looked down at himself and noticed that he didn't have shrapnel sticking out of every part of his body as he expected. Apparently he had managed to dive out of the way at the last second, that and judging by the small size of the grenade impact, it had malfunctioned and not detonated properly. Turning to look to his right he spotted a hulking figure wielding a minigun.

\- L-Lloyd?

Preston barely managed to choke out the words, just because he hadn't been killed by the blast didn't mean it hadn't knocked the wind out of him.

\- Shit! Isn't that power armor?!

\- Shut it, are you a man or a pussy?! Now shoot!

The sound of a minigun spooling up was the last thing the man to whom the raider boss had been talking to heard as he was filled with holes.

\- Fuck!

Every one of the raiders either ducked behind cover futilely and were torn to shreds or ran away. As Lloyd slowed the minigun down, not wanting to overheat it, he could spot six raiders left, none of which were so inclined to stick their heads up. Suddenly however there was an ear piercing screech as a metal cover was flung into the sky and out of a mossy, stinking sewage hole came a massive creature with black scales, long claws and two black horns... A deathclaw. The Beast instantly pierced one of the remaining raiders through the chest and tore it to pieces angrily.

Being as discreet as one could whilst wearing a massive mechanical suit of armor, Lloyd moved over to Preston's side who had since gotten back behind the sandbags which he had used as cover before, resting his fedora covered head upon his musket.

\- How are you holding up?

Lloyd's voice sounded slightly distorted as it came out of the speakers of the helmet, but no radio on earth could distort the kindness which was exuded when he spoke.

\- Oh... You know, couple bruises here and there but otherwise not too bad. Just... Isn't that a goddamned deathclaw?

Lloyd threw a gaze towards the hulking beast which was in the process of biting through its second target, the bullets of the remaining raiders pinging off it's thick scales with ease.

\- Yup... Not sure how we're getting out of this one I'm afraid... I chewed through a whole drum of ammo already... I guess I might have enough to take it down but...

\- I doubt it... Those things can survive the blast from a mini nuke from what I've heard.

\- Well, no point in doing nothing, it's worth a shot, right?

-...

Lloyd ignored Preston's silence and instead went about reloading his minigun whilst moving towards the beast that was slashing away at the boss of the raiders. The man was surprisingly good at dodging its rage filled swipes, firing off laser shots at it while trying to back away was hopeless as the second he got a little bit of distance between him and it, the creature leapt forwards. And the raider boss couldn't rely on his so called allies as what was left of them had legged it.

Spooling up the minigun Lloyd started emptying bullet after bullet into the creature, unfortunately that meant its attention was now focused solely on him. Lloyd wasn't disheartened by this, in fact he was happy because it meant the minigun was doing some damage.

That didn't mean that it was in fact a good thing to have a creature with 'death' in its name locked onto you. As he soon found out when the beast rushed towards him, dodging from side to side as it did so. It was faster than its size should have permitted and as soon as it got within striking range of the suit of power armor, it lashed out, the horrid sound of its claws scrapping against the reinforced plating of the suit screeching out. The strike was dealt with such force that Lloyd was sent flying backward, away from the beast, the tips of its claws catching the bottom of the suit's helmet and knocking it off.

The shock of the blow had probably resulted in the loss of a handful of Lloyd's precious brain cells but he was still alive and that was currently good enough for him. He looked up in time to see the beast slice the raider boss' head clean off his shoulders. Almost looking satisfied with its brutal kill it turned towards Lloyd who was still recovering from it's brutal strike.

But just as the beast was going to rush the infuriating metal clad human, something else began approaching it from the side. Not fooled the beast turned quicker than a flash towards the sound.

\- Oooh! Hey There beasty! Hehehehe! I hope you like the taste of gunpowder! Hahaha!

And with that a raider, rigged with more than a dozen frag grenades with all off their pins pulled out rushed at the beast, maniacal laughter echoing from his mouth. Lloyd raised an arm to shield his face from the blast but it never came. The raider looked confused for a few seconds, even the deathclaw seemed to show slight confusion on its features before biting into the tasty snack. The detonators of the aged explosives must have been faulty, but what were the chances that every single one wouldn't ignite?

\- Lloyd! Catch!

The white haired man turned towards where the voice came from and he spotted Preston tossing the prone assassin a laser musket. Barely managing to catch the weapon, Lloyd cranked it several times as it made a peculiar buzzing sound. Unbeknownst to both Preston and Lloyd a piece of shrapnel had lodged its self into the chamber where the energy from the fusion cell was stored. Despite this however Lloyd successfully fired off a shot, aimed right at one of the grenades and it connected just before the deathclaw swallowed the entire body of the raider. This time when the power armor's arm was raised to shield the white haired man's face it was of use as blood, scales and fleshy shrapnel splattered around the street.

Lloyd slowly got to his feet wordlessly and having spotted the T-45's helmet lying a short distance away he walked over to it and placed it upon his head. The visual feed seemed slightly damaged as a crack went down the right side of the white haired man's vision but that could be fixed later. Just as Lloyd was turning back around he spotted a raider which had seemingly survived being slashed across the chest by the deathclaw raising a 44. Magnum in the direction of Preston, acting as fast as he could Lloyd cranked the laser musket and shot a beam off at the raider's face. However as he pulled the trigger the damaged glass of the weapon's chamber burst releasing most of the energy in the form of a miniature explosion.

The last thing Lloyd heard was a terrible artificial electrical buzzing sound as his whole body was rocked and darkness invaded his mind.


	3. Chapter 3-Sweet Sanctuary

Preston Garvey had been doing as he was told, holding off a group of vicious and well armed raiders, when a faulty grenade detonated next to him, knocking him unconscious for a short amount of time. Luckily Lloyd, having climbed through the ruins of the Museum of Freedom had managed to acquire the fusion core necessary to jump-start a suit of power armor and so charged into battle, vertibird minigun in hand. Half of the raiders dead or having run away and the other half cowering behind cover, the white haired man had rightfully felt confident, that was until a bloodcurdling roar echoed out across the temporary battlefield. A deathclaw emerged from where it had likely been resting for a long time, throwing a spanner into the works. Lady luck seemed to be smiling upon the group of survivors when a suicidal raider gave Lloyd the chance to blow the beast apart from the inside out. But alas that wasn't the end as a raider had survived the carnage and was about to execute the last minute man, however thanks to Lloyd's lightning reflexes Preston was saved from the fate of a bullet to the brain. This did not come without a cost as the weapon which the armor clad stranger was using, a modified laser musket, had been damaged and backfired, knocking our unlikely hero into the sweet oblivion of unconsciousness.

* * *

**Chapter III- Sweet Sanctuary**

* * *

Preston was stood in the entrance to the Museum of Freedom, the raider boss' laser rifle resting in his hands. It had been a couple of hours since his previous weapon had blow up and knocked his group's savior unconscious, he had mourned the weapon quietly whilst gathering up anything and everything of use from the corpses of the raiders with the help of Struges. They may have been raiders but leaving them to rot was inhuman and so the honorable soldier had burnt the bodies and buried their ashes behind one of the buildings inside of a rusted ammo box, which would be considered quite a luxurious burial in the wastes.

Turning his gaze from keeping an eye out for threats to his group he heard Marcy arguing with Mama Murphy. The pair were stood next to Lloyd, who had been set down on top of an old blanket and was still fast asleep. The younger of the two seemed to be getting angrier by the second.

\- You want to give him ALL of these weapons?!

\- The kid deserves it doesn't he? Without him we would be long dead... And besides Marcy, I didn't say just the weapons.

\- We NEED all of this if we are going to have any chance of surviving!

Garvey walked over to the two, putting his hand up in a disarming gesture, and began to talk in as calming as a tone as he could.

\- Now, now. I'm sure that giving him all of these weapons would just weigh him down so he might be willing to part with a few of them, especially if we offer up the caps which we gathered from the bodies. Two hundred caps isn't a small amount of money...

Marcy pulled a sour face but didn't seem like she was going to disagree anymore, instead she muttered out;

\- Fine. I'm going to take a look and count them out.

And with that the woman stomped off, her anger resonating with every footstep.

\- You think the kid is going to wake up anytime soon?  
Preston threw a glance at the young man lying on the floor, the rise and fall of his black clad chest moving at a hypnotically calm rhythm, his slightly long messy white hair moving with every breath. His relaxed features smoothed out his face and the lack of those bright and energetic red eyes reduced the impact of his pale skin making his skin look an almost natural shade.

\- Who knows? When we managed to pull him out of the suit I wasn't even sure he was alive.

The dark skinned man glanced over at the power armor, Lloyd's gear resting near it along with his white lab coat which was folded precariously.

\- Must have been a damn good laser musket when it worked properly.

Everyone in the room, including Sturges who had been keeping an eye on Jun, turned towards the voice as a soft groan echoed out. Lloyd was sitting up, resting his body weight on one arm, the other coming up to clutch his head, as he opened his bright red eyes everyone saw the energy spark into them gradually.

\- Yeah... It was a damn good laser musket... I feel kinda bad though, I'm the one who lent it to you after all...

\- You shouldn't, I'd have been dead without it.

\- Kid, are you feeling alright? That was one hell of a knock you got on your head.

\- I'm feeling fine...

As he was in the middle of standing up he stumbled slightly, getting caught by Preston at the last second.

\- Damn, maybe not... Pretty pathetic 'ey?

\- Well you were definitely not pathetic out there... You put on one hell of a show, I sure as shit wouldn't want to face off against you at the very least.

\- Really? I thought it was kinda clumsy... Never have used power armor before, I admire the tech but I don't think those things are my style... Felt like the servo system wasn't even working.

Preston glanced at the man in slight shock as he slowly lowered him to a sitting position against a hardwood beam.

\- You'd never operated one of those things before? Then what you did was twice as impressive!

Lloyd seemed slightly uncomfortable at the praise, the likelihood being that he wasn't used to it. The white haired man scanned the room and spotted a metal crate stacked full of weapons and pieces of metal, his eyes then fell upon the suit of armor and his gear which made him relax a little. He turned his gaze up at Preston who had been discreetly following his gaze, seeming to want to ask him something desperately.

\- Listen... We want to thank you, and so we've agreed you can keep the weapons and the caps from those raiders if you want them.

Lloyd's eyes seemed to grow a slightly darker red, not quite crimson but not quite the bright red they had been. His gaze fell to the floor as he pressed down on the tip of his index finger with his thumb, the sound of his bones cracking echoing out louder than they should have.

\- I didn't do it for the cash or the weapons. I did it because it was the human thing to do.

Preston was genuinely shocked, he hadn't had much time to talk with the man during the brief pauses in the fight, in fact he knew hardly anything of the man if not nothing. But there had been one thing he was almost sure of and that was that he must have been some sort of mercenary, from his clothes to his peculiar weapon. But what this man was saying... The way he was saying it... It reminded him of them.

\- You know... You remind me of my friends... The other minutemen, those who ended up giving their lives for others...

What Preston failed to mention was that when he spoke of the minutemen, in this case he wasn't talking about the young soldiers who had died in Quincy... No he was speaking of the aged, strong willed leaders, exactly like Ezra Hollis... A great man and an even greater leader, his death had spelled the end of the minutemen as they had been... But a plan began to form within the last minute man's head, one of rebirth.

\- You should come with us to Sanctuary, we could do with your help...

Lloyd seemed to toss the thought around in his head, with every second he didn't answer Preston's hopes fell more and more until...

\- Okay... That sounds good. I was looking for a place to hunker down for a while anyway... This Sanctuary... I think I saw it on my map... It's not that far away right?

\- Sanctuary? You mean that place mama Murphy had one of her "visions" about while she was stoned out of her gourd? You want us to go on a wild goose chase looking for this place that probably doesn't exist based on no better plan than "Mama Murphy saw it"?

Lloyd was politely ignoring the annoyed woman as he reached into his back pocket, finding his map exactly where he had left it, though slightly more crumpled. To the south, written in deplorable hand writing, was most definitely the word 'Sanctuary'. Preston was leaning over Lloyd's shoulder, scanning the map. It wasn't of the entire commonwealth but it encompassed a small part of Lexington and other isolated groupments of buildings and towns.

\- Where did you get this map? The hand writing is awful but it's pretty detailed...

\- I got it from a ghoul, nice guy, used to live around here before the war... 'Suggested I Head to covenant at some point...

\- So Sanctuary does exist... And it's not that far away either.

\- Tsk, so what if some random "zombie" wrote it on a scrap of paper, doesn't mean it exists!

\- Well it can't be worse than-

Just as Sturges was preparing to step in, Lloyd stood, a peculiar aura surrounding him as his bangs cast a shadow over his eyes.

\- Alrighty, you got a better idea miss Marcy?

It was strange, the words were said in such a sweet way and yet there was an icy undertone to them.

\- Well... I mean...

\- I thought as much. If you contradict someone with the only reason being you want to contradict them you won't get very far in an argument. Counter proposals should be brought to the negotiating table if you're going to outright refuse someone else's proposal... Now I suggest we get going. Sturges, you can operate the T-45 right? I'm in no fit state and Preston still looks a little rough...

\- Ah... Sure, I can handle that. I can probably carry those weapons with it as well...

And with that the group began preparing to leave. Struges by getting into the suit awkwardly after having handed Lloyd's gear to him and going to fetch the metal case. Preston by walking over to Mama Murphy, making sure she was okay, with Marcy doing the same. Lloyd meanwhile dressed himself with his long white coat, the hem of it flowing in the wind, he then set his bag on his back and picked up his rifle, one hand on the grip the other on the hand guard.

The group slowly stepped outside, Preston gazed towards the left as they exited the museum, fixing a fresh mound of dirt with a makeshift cross and a fedora resting upon it.

\- One of yours?

\- Yeah... We mustn't forget the price we paid to get this far...

\- I understand... We should move out rapidly however, the sun will start setting soon and I'd rather not be out after dark. Preston you act as the vanguard I'll be the rear-guard.

Preston turned to look at the stranger, his brow creased in confusion.

\- The what guard?

\- Vanguard, as in the person at the front, everyone else should line up between you and me, that way there shouldn't be anyway for something to catch us off guard.

\- Right.

With that a straight line of people moved out, Preston at the front then Marcy, Jun, Mama Murphy, Struges in the T-45 and finally Lloyd. The sound of the suit's mechanical thumping was interrupted by it's exterior radio crackle to life.

\- So... Lloyd right?

\- Mhh...

\- Can you tell us about yourself? We all know each other pretty well, so it might be good to get to know you too...

Lloyd looked at the back of the mechanical suit, a peculiar look on his face, quickly recovering he started scanning their surroundings again.

\- There isn't much to say apart from I'm new to the commonwealth.

\- How about that rifle of yours then? I've never seen one quite like it.

Everyone, even Marcy seemed to await the answer with baited breath and it finally came.

\- Have you ever heard of Colt? It was an American Pre-war weapons manufacturer, they produced most of the weapons that are still around today.

Sturges, inside the suit of power armor, creased his brow in thought, he was sure he had heard of it before... There was a gun by the same name, was that related? And with that idea the magazine that he had once read came flooding back.

\- Sure I think I've read about it before... Weren't they the ones who produced the 10mm pistols most people use 'round these parts?

\- That's right, you know your stuff... Well they also produced some rifles, notably the M16A1 which was employed by the U.S army for a long time starting off in the 1970s...

\- And that's what that is?

\- No, I haven't seen an actual original M16A1, they stopped it's production even before the bombs dropped. This is made by the same people and based on the same design, however it was made a lot later, when the world went to hell it was just a prototype, a collaboration project between Colt and Stent Security Solutions... It was set to replace many of the other weapons used at the time because of its versatility. It has a complex firing system which allows it to fire one bullet at a time or spray a whole magazine in a few seconds. It was also made using aluminum alloys and polymers which made them a cheap, quick to make and light solution to otherwise cumbersome weapons. With it came a divers array of possible attachments such as a scope, a silencer, a laser sight, a grip or even a flashlight. The silencer and scope are the originals on this one.

\- That thing must be worth a lot then?

\- More than you can imagine, as far as I've seen it's a one of a kind.

The group had finally arrived at the edge of concord when the sound of buzzing suddenly invaded their ears. Preston, being at the front was the first to react, raising his newly acquired laser rifle.

\- Bloodbugs!

\- Stay calm and stay in line, Preston shoot them down, I'll cover you.

Before anything else could be said a bright pink insect the size of a dog came flying towards the last minute man, its sharp proboscis ready to jab anything warm blooded in the area. How the mutated mosquito would soon be disappointed as it received a face full of deadly energy to the face. But the creature didn't give up, as it made a high pitched sound that resembled a screech. The sound of a silenced shot being fired was the only thing the group heard as a pointed 5.56 bullet pierced the offensive insect's head.

\- Well that was-

Before Lloyd could finish his phrase he was tackled to the ground by a second creature that had dove out of one of the many green bushes that were growing around.

\- Wow!

Preston rushed to the back of the column, ready to shoot another bloodbug, instead he was greeted to the sight of their white haired companion getting his face licked off by a German shepherd. Of course the colonial style man couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Lloyd flailing his arms around vigorously in an attempt to get the dog off of him.

\- Man down! Man down! G-get this beast off of me! Hey! Stop laughing! I'm injured you know!

\- Alright, alright...

A quick whistle and the smart dog was off of Lloyd and sat next to him, ears pointing upwards and his tail wagging behind him. The sound of Lloyd spitting onto the floor followed by him wiping his mouth forced a snigger out of Preston's lips.

\- Urgh! Disgusting, what did that thing eat to have such bad breath!

\- Ahh, Dogmeat likes you kid.

\- Dogmeat? He's yours?

\- Oh he ain't my dog. No sir. Dogmeat's his own man. You can't own a free spirit like him. But he chooses his friends and seeing how much he likes you, I don't need the sight to know that he'll stay by your side from now on...

Lloyd finally got to his feet, adjusted his glasses on his nose and picked up his rifle, looking down at the happy looking dog as he dusted himself off.

\- Yes... Well... As long as he doesn't do that again I think we'll get along just fine...

The stink eye that the white haired man was giving to Dogmeat didn't seem to curb the furry creature's enthusiasm as he began walking by his side as the group moved out again. As they arrived at a fork in the road, one going towards some buildings and the other towards what looked like a red rocket truck stop. The group paused, Preston pinching his nose as he spotted the well dried out corpse of a brahmin.

\- Ugh... That thing stinks...

\- It's a rotting brahmin corps, what do you expect? Doesn't look like a trader's at least... Now according to the map we should head left and follow the road, Sanctuary should be at the end of it.

The group took off again and as they passed by the red rocket building, Sturges couldn't help but admire the place through the cracked visuals of the power armor's helmet.

-Well would you look at that, I think I just found my new vacation home.

-Your idea of heaven, ey Sturges?  
\- There could be some useful salvage in there, let's get to sanctuary first though.

Preston spotted two things in the distance, one was a stone statue and the other a wooden bridge, a collapsed tree lay blocking the road but Preston was too focused on the statue to care.

-Well I'll be damned, this here is a monument to the original minutemen. I knew that was somewhere around concord but I didn't know its exact location... And that must means this right here is the old north bridge, where the first shots of the American revolution were fired. I'd call that the best omen we've seen since we left Quincy!

\- You mean the war of Independence right? That statue should have an inscription on it...

Lloyd climbed up a small dirt bank to where the statue was swiftly followed by Preston. The white clad man knelt down in front of the statue and pulled some moss off of it.

\- The war of Independence? I know a bit from the old soldiers who like to collect memorabilia but I don't know much else...

\- The war had two names, the American revolutionary war and the American war of Independence. I'm guessing most of the people you were talking about are in a better place now? That's a shame, I wouldn't have minded meeting them...

Preston's expression darkened slightly as he thought about his friends, his family who, if they were lucky were now buried under six feet of dirt.

\- You know a lot about this stuff Lloyd...

\- It's a hobby of mine, learning the most I can about the past so as to not repeat it.

The white haired man placed his backpack on the floor and rummaged through it for a few seconds before pulling out some semi see-through paper and a piece of charcoal which had been wrapped in some cloth.

\- The inscription is pretty worn, how are you planning on-

Lloyd pushed his glasses back up his nose and put one finger up in Preston's direction.

\- Watch and learn.

Within a minute Lloyd had rubbed charcoal over a large amount of the paper, shifting in his kneeling position a couple of times.

\- Et voilà!

The peculiar man stood, the strange paper in his hand. Preston could distinctly see letters where the charcoal hadn't colored in.

\- It's called stone rubbing... Now let's see what it says shall we? "Here, On the 19 of April, 1775, was made the first forcible resistance to British aggression. On the opposite Bank stood the American Militia. Here stood the Invading Army and on this spot the first of the Enemy fell in the War of that Revolution which gave Independence to these United States. In gratitude to god and In the love of Freedom this Monument was erected AD. 1836."

\- Wow... That was inscribed a hell of a long time ago wasn't it?

Lloyd didn't need to answer instead he went to put the rubbing into a large worn leather book which he had retrieved from his large bag.

\- It is quite symbolic though isn't it? This is where one of the first American victories took place, setting the tone for the whole rest of the war with the British.

\- I have no clue what you two are talking about, though you both seem happy enough but this fusion core isn't going to last forever you know?

Both men stood next to the statue seemed rather sheepish as they both awkwardly got ready to cross the bridge. The group quickly got back into line as they began to cross.

\- Hey boss?

Preston turned around to see Sturges in his full suit of armor, carrying the metal crate of gear, stood at the edge of the bridge.

\- What is it Sturges?

\- Well-

\- Just get a moving would you? It's starting to get cold!

\- As I was saying Marcy this bridge isn't going to hold the weight of this suit ya' know!

Lloyd decided that he would give the obvious solution to this problem by tapping on the man's shoulder and pointing to the half dried up, rubble filled river.

\- You can get past where the retention wall has collapsed.

\- Ah right...

The group managed to get across the river, in Sturges' case through it, and began to spread out slightly, each on edge, with the three unarmed people of the group sticking close to the armed ones.

The buildings were made of some form of reinforced metal, out of the fourteen buildings present five of them had completely collapse, seven were completely overgrown by greenery and only two seemed to be in relatively good condition. Trees had sprouted up at random positions, the road was completely covered by a thick layer of dirt. Surprisingly many of the pre-war lamp posts were still standing, though the electricity for them was lacking.

\- It doesn't look like anyone's been here for a long time... In fact I'm guessing no one has been here since the bombs dropped...

Preston returned to the group, who were now setting up in one of the least damaged buildings, it had four rooms, one used to be a kitchen, one a bathroom, one a bedroom and the other a living room. A television still stood on all four of its legs, a couch positioned in front of it.

\- Well Preston, it's a little drafty but-

Mama Murphy sat down on the faded red couch, straining slightly to do so due to her aged frame.

\- with a little work I'd say this place could become a real Sanctuary.


End file.
